The battles in North Africa hold a unique place in the history of World War II. Praised in Parliament and the British press, German commander Erwin Rommel achieved near-mythical status as a general. The fighting was seen as one of few “clean” wars fought by the Nazis, marked by mutual respect between the opponents. And the desert setting was dramatic: blistering daytime heat and plummeting temperatures at nights, abrasive sandstorms and flash floods, from Egypt’s Qattara Depression to Tunisia’s Atlas Mountains—an arena that still bore the marks of battles as far back as Roman times where Scipio had fought Hannibal. The weather and terrain produced a fearsome place to fight a war.This is also the theater in which the U.S. forces made their first significant appearance in the battles against Hitler, where the men who would lead in Normandy came together from American and British forces, resulting in a victory that saw a quarter of a million German and Italian soldiers captured.Richly illustrated, this completely revised edition of George Forty’s classic work provides an eyewitness account of what it was like to fight and survive in the desert, examines the importance of intelligence and codebreaking, and reassesses Rommel’s reputation as a battlefield commander.
